The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. On-Page / Site Optimization
    4. Do you use <nofollow>and rel=nofollow?</nofollow>

    Do you use <nofollow>and rel=nofollow?</nofollow>

    On-Page / Site Optimization
    5 4 915
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • fleetway
      fleetway last edited by

      I just read http://www.thoughtmechanics.com/does-nofollow-attribute-work-google-says-yes-studies-say-otherwise/ .

      Is it really better to avoid using nofollow for local links (from one site to itself)?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • SuperlativB
        SuperlativB last edited by

        Why do you want to include nofollow on internal links? Let that juice flow I say.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • EGOL
          EGOL last edited by

          We don't use it.  If a site is worth linking to then give them the juice.

          If you were google and you came to a site with a lot of nofollowed outgoing links you might think that they mean... "We Don't Trust This".... "They Paid Us"....

          Don't want that odor on my site.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • john4math
            john4math last edited by

            Nofollowing links doesn't sculpt link juice, it burns it.  Doing this to internal links is bad, as you're wasting your own link juice!  If I don't want a page on my site on the SERPs, I'd much rather set a meta noindex, follow tag on the page I don't want indexed rather than nofollow links to it.

            To explain burning vs. sculpting, here's an example.  Say page A has 6 votes of link juice to pass, and links to 3 other pages, B, C, and D.  If all the links are followed, it'll pass 2 votes to each page.  However, if you nofollow the link to page D, it won't give 3 votes to B and C, it'll give the same 2 votes to B and C, and the 2 votes that should have gone to page D go nowhere.  They're burned.

            If instead you set a meta tag on page D to noindex, follow, the link juice will flow in and out of page D, so that would be much preferred.

            EGOL 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
            • EGOL
              EGOL @john4math last edited by

              **This is a really good answer. **  The first two paragraphs are the best answer that  I have seen to this type of question.

              Nice work, John.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post
              • What is the best way to block http://www.site.com/members/...
                Taiger
                Taiger
                0
                3
                136

              • Can you use the canonical tag and rel=next and rel=prev on category pages.
                Palmbourne
                Palmbourne
                0
                4
                760

              • Best Way to Use Canonical Tag & Meta Robots in Category Level Paginated Pages with feature of rel prev & rel next?
                shreyS
                shreyS
                0
                3
                186

              • My home page URL http://seadwellers.com/ redirects to http://www.seadwellers.com/. Is this a problem?
                TheeDigital
                TheeDigital
                0
                3
                100

              • I'm using Canonical URL but still receiving message - Appropriate Use of Rel Canonical
                KeriMorgret
                KeriMorgret
                0
                7
                85

              • [HTML Gurus] Is the only nofollow = rel="nofollow"?
                SEOAndy
                SEOAndy
                0
                5
                189

              • Appropriate Use of Rel Canonical
                Cyrus-Shepard
                Cyrus-Shepard
                0
                3
                184

              • SEF URLs. Should I use / or - ?
                JaredBroker
                JaredBroker
                0
                4
                523

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              • Digital Marketers
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy